Most people would agree that a definition of prophecy must allow for the inclusion of prediction while showing the concept to be wider than merely seeing the future. The prophet’s business is to make known God’s will, now and for the future.

The Old Testament prophets predicted events. But they also applied the teaching of the law of Moses to the actual situation in which they found themselves. We see both elements of the prophetic task in Nathan, for example, as he confronts the guilty King David:

… Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? … Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house … (2 Sam. 12:9,10).

It is an inadequate reading of the Old Testament which separates prophecy from preaching or the exposition of scripture. The prophetic word was checked against the law (Deut. 13:1-5), but it was also filled with insight by the law. It was exposition with a contemporary edge. It is significant that the prophet Elijah journeyed to Mount Horeb in his day of depression, for it was there that Moses received the law (1 Kings 19:8ff.).

In the New Testament there is evidence of a class of person called a prophet, who seems to have functioned in a parallel way with the apostles in proclaiming God’s message. Hence we read that the church is being uilt upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Eph. 2:20) and that the revelation of the coming of Jews and Greeks into the one body was committed to apostles and prophets (Eph. 3:5). It is not surprising therefore to hear that when Christ gave gifts to men it was only some who were apostles and some prophets (Eph. 4:11). Paul makes it clear that not all can expect to be prophets (1 Cor. 12:29).

Yet since Paul also exhorts every Christian to desire the gift (1 Cor. 14:1), it may mean that it is the office of a prophet that is exclusive, rather than the occasional exercise of the faculty (cf. Acts 2:17). Not every Christian may prophecy, but the group may be wider than those designated ‘prophets’. It is necessary therefore to investigate what may be involved.

The prophet must have an authentic knowledge of God’s mind (1 Cor 13:2). The communication of that knowledge is for the purpose of upbuilding, encouragement and consolation (1 Cor.14:3). Since it is rational speech, as opposed to unintelligible glossolalia, learning and instruction ensue (1 Cor. 14:19,31). These observations comply with the evidence in Acts, especially Acts 15:32. There,

Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, exhorted the brethren with many words and strengthened them.

The use of the word ‘exhort’ in connection with prophecy is significant. The word itself has a range of possible meanings—to summon, to call for help, to appeal, to encourage, to request, to comfort, to conciliate. In the noun form it is the word translated ‘encouragement’ in 1 Corinthians 14:3. It certainly entails, therefore, a warm-hearted speech, calculated to move the hearer.

For his part, the hearer must be discriminating. Not all that calls itself prophecy can be classified as God’s word (1 Cor. 14:29, 1 Thess. 5:20, 21; cf. 1 Cor. 14:37, 38). There must be good order, so that no one with a message from God is denied the opportunity to speak (1 Cor. 14:30).

There is evidence that specific prediction played a part in prophecy. Agabus is twice reported in this role (Acts 11:27-29, 21:11). So, too, men were designated for certain jobs (1 Tim. 1:18, 4:14; cf. Acts 13:1, 2). But concern for the future was wider than this.

If we examine 1 Thessalonians it appears that words of Jesus are used by Paul as a basis for his teaching about the future, especially the aspects of judgement and the second coming. For example:

For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep (1 Thess. 4:15).

Significantly, the Thessalonians are to ‘exhort one another with these words’ (4:18 RV mg.). This passage fits easily into the Old Testament category of prophecy, and not surprisingly it contains the exposition of a word of scripture (i.e., Jesus’ words)—all geared to the specific problems of the readers.

The same is true of Hebrews 3:7-4:13. The whole epistle is called a ‘word of exhortation’ by the author (13:22 RV) and this section is to stimulate the recipients to exhort one another (3:13).

The passage is an exposition of Psalm 95 with a sharp application to the present situation of the readers. The author begins with his text (3:7-11). He then proceeds to draw out its significance, referring back to it when necessary:

For we share in Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end, which it is said, ‘Today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.’
Who were they who heard and yet were rebellious? …
So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest remains, let us fear lest any of you be judged to have failed to reach it.

He concludes his exposition with a reference to the future:

So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God; for whoever enters God’s rest also ceases from his labours as God did from his (4:9,10).

The suggestion that we have here a piece of prophecy preserved for our inspection is strengthened by the way in which he apparently identified what he has said with God’s word (4:12) and the remarkable similarity that this word of God has with the prophecy which is described in 1 Corinthians 14.

In Hebrews, as the writer concludes his exhortation, he writes of it:

The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do (4:12, 13).

In 1 Corinthians 14:

But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you (14: 24, 25).

The passage in Hebrews and 1 Thessalonians are characterized by an appeal to future judgment. It may well be that the prophetic word of 1 Corinthians 14 is the gospel, since men worship God when they hear it. If this is so, then it too will have a strongly futuristic and judgemental theme (cf. Paul’s preaching to the Gentile outsider in Acts 17).

The same is true of the one New Testament book which calls itself prophecy, the Revelation (22:19). It is actually that form of prophecy called an apocalypse, carefully thought out, and suffused with Old Testament allusions. Its theme is Christ’s victory and judgement; it is in part predictive; and it exhorts, encourages and edifies.

While it is true, therefore, that the prophet and the teacher are distinguished in some passages (Eph. 4:11; Rom. 12:5f.; 1 Cor. 12:29), yet this ought not to lead one to the conclusion that their ministries exclude one another. The explanation of God’s word figures in both. It may be that the prophet’s role arose more from the situation, whereas the teacher’s arose from the scriptures. But the list of gifts in Romans 12, for example, does not preclude the possibility that the one person may have several gifts, nor that gifts like giving and showing mercy (12:8) or prophecy and teaching (12:6,7) may overlap.

There is a distinction discernible from the Biblical texts, on the level of securing the revelation. To the prophet there may come ‘a revelation’. Thus we read in the case where one prophet is already speaking,

If a revelation is made to another sitting by, let the first be silent (1 Cor. 14:30).

However, neither the mechanism whereby such a revelation comes nor the style in which it is uttered is described anywhere, and we are free to see it as a non-ecstatic and ‘natural’ process, especially in light of verse 32:

… and the spirit of prophets are subject to prophets.

Or, as the NEB has it,

It is for prophets to control prophetic inspiration.

Nor are we told that such a revelation is necessary each time a prophet speaks. In fact the reverse is probably the case, since some of the mysteries about which they speak will be of such importance that the prophet will repeat his message many times (see Eph. 3:5, 6).

Perhaps we are bound to see it as a ‘natural’ process in the light of John 11: 50, 51, where the enemy of Jesus, Caiaphas, prophesies all unknowingly, that Jesus will die for the nation.

If this discussion is correct, then it will follow that a neo-pentecostal author like Michael Harper in his book on prophecy has been too rigid in distinguishing prophecy from preaching and teaching:

A preacher usually prepares, speaks and expounds the word of God. But a prophet speaks directly under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Both have a part to play in the edification of the Church—but they should not be confused.1

The quote also shows that he insists that prophecy has a different method from that employed in preaching—the revelation comes directly from God. It appears that the natural mind ceases to operate. We would not deny that this can be the case, but we would maintain that this is too narrow a view of prophecy in the light of the careful human thought and interaction with existing scripture evident in the writings of Isaiah or Jeremiah, or Paul, or in Hebrews or Revelation.

Certainly we do not intend to reclaim the possession of sole right to speak afforded to most teachers in the churches. This may indeed be necessary in some few places, but surely the teacher can exist side by side with the men and women who come with a word of upbuilding, encouragement and consolation, especially fit for the situation of the hour.

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1. Prophecy, M. Harper, 1964, p. 8.
talkingpentecostalism.blogspot.com | joe towns: christian discussion on pentecost, charisma, pentecostal and charismatic beliefs, the Bible and Jesus; including the origin and history of pentecostalism, baptism in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, gifts and miracles, divine healing and word of faith, prosperity and wealth, praise and worship, guidance and hearing the voice of the Holy Spirit.

Although Talking Pentecostalism is a site predominantly about Pentecostalism, it’s about Christianity more broadly too. The Pentecostal religion will 'reshape Christianity in the twenty-first century’. The Pentecostal or Pentecostalist movement and charismatic movements have become the most vigorous and fastest-growing family of Christians in the world. Unlike traditional Christianity which centers on the events of Easter and the crucifixion of Jesus, Pentecostal beliefs focus on the events surrounding the day of Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that began then. Since 1980 the Pentecost movement has been the largest family of Protestants in the world, not including the charismatic Pentecostals in the traditional mainline churches. Since 1995 the Pentecostals and Charismatics have in global numbers become the second largest family of Christians in the world, after the Roman Catholicism. More recent figures have indicated that today there are well over half a billion Pentecostal and Charismatic believers worldwide. So the size and growth rate alone of the Pentecostal movement means that Pentecostalism will affect everybody in one way or another, whether directly or indirectly. But not only are numbers up, Pentecostal thinking is also increasingly widespread. This is a movement, not primarily interested in record statistics, but seeking a radical transformation of Christian thinking. Today's leading Pentecostals have acknowledged the goal of the Pentecostal movement as a universal transformation of the church, both theologically and practically. It is because the Pentecostal seeks to spread Pentecostalism beliefs that it is having such a dramatic reshaping of Christianity. At the heart of the movement is the story of Pentecost itself, and their story that goes with this of how understanding Pentecost can reshape, and in fact restore, true Christianity to the believer. Pentecostal history begins at the turn of the nineteenth century, however more recently in the 1970s the Neo Pentecostal movement (or New Pentecostalism) spread into mainline church denominations when Pentecostal worship began to have a profound influence on traditional Christian services, inspiring the Pentecostal charismatic movement, now referred to simply as the Charismatics. The history of Pentecostalism is vital in understanding Pentecostal doctrine. What is Pentecost? On the day of Pentecost, Jesus baptized his Church with the Holy Spirit. What is Pentecost about in the New Testament? Talking Pentecostalism answers this question and others like it in detail. What is Pentecostal? Pentecostals believe that recovery of the doctrine and experience of being baptized in the Holy Spirit is comparable to the Reformation's recovery of the doctrine of justification by faith. The Pentecostal movement seeks to restore the experiential dimension of the Spirit's dynamic presence to the believer and collectively to a significant segment of the church. What is Pentecostalism about? Talking Pentecostalism answers this question in more than a little detail, and others like it. Christians need to understand Pentecostalism, not only because of an increasing number of Pentecostal and Charismatic Christians in our midst, but also because the stated goal of the movement is an intentional change to traditional Christian thought. People need to understand Pentecostalism in order to be aware of its affect on their own Christianity, or to their view of Christianity. Coupled with understanding the Scriptures themselves, understanding Pentecostalism is the best way to ensure you are responding rightly to this new influence in Christian history. What is the Holy Spirit? How is the Holy Spirit involved in Christianity? Who is the Holy Spirit? Talking Pentecostalism answers these questions and more. We go into details not only about the Holy Spirit, what is Holy Spirit, who is Holy Spirit, but also how Pentecostalism has understood the answers to these questions and how this differs to traditional teaching on the subject down through history as well as more recent and wider evangelical thought.

Christian discussion on the Pentecostal movement, the history and origin of Pentecostalism, Pentecostal belief, charismatic theology, Pentecostals and the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, the day of Pentecost, baptism in the Spirit, speaking in tongues, gifts of the Spirit, praise and worship, prosperity doctrine, divine healing, guidance, destiny and the voice of the Holy Spirit. An Evangelical critique of Pentecostalism - talkingpentecostalism.blogspot.com by Joe Towns.